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Speaker 1: Let's wrap up with some music. And we have spoken

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Speaker 1: before about the concept of the Pringle Proms, which is

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Speaker 1: quite regular in our concert series, happening in the village

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Speaker 1: of Pringle Bay, where visitors are invited to enjoy wonderful

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Speaker 1: music and sometimes wonderful food as well. But this concert

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Speaker 1: today is specifically a music focused event. It is the

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Speaker 1: next edition of Pringle Proms, happening on Saturday, the eleventh

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Speaker 1: of April, and it's going to feature a Summer award

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Speaker 1: winning guitarist named James Grace. Now he is one of

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Speaker 1: his country's most accomplished guitarists. He performs all over the world.

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Speaker 1: He also finds time to direct the classical guitar program

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Speaker 1: at UCT's Say College of Music, and he is going

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Speaker 1: to be showcasing the magic of Spanish guitar in an

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Speaker 1: hour long solo recital entitled Flavors of Spain. James is

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Speaker 1: with us on the line to tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about his career and talk about Spanish guitar.

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Speaker 1: We will make time to include a sample of his

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Speaker 1: playing to wet your appetite. James Grace, welcome to keep talk.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Peper Bras to chat to you again. I

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Speaker 2: remember last time we spoke, it was actually in connection

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Speaker 2: with the show that I was doing a theater from

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Speaker 2: the Bed back in twenty twenty two called the Romanza. Well,

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Speaker 2: we just came out of Covid and the theater is everything.

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Speaker 2: We just kind of opened up again and I was

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Speaker 2: it was the show call was called the Romanza and

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Speaker 2: it was featured several Spanish dancers from Johannesburg and we

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Speaker 2: we were sort of just coming out of that that

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Speaker 2: sort of time again. Anyway, this show that you mentioned now,

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Speaker 2: the Pringle Problems, features a similar atmosphere, similar vibe. It's

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Speaker 2: an all Spanish program as you mentioned, called Flavors of Spain,

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Speaker 2: and it really just showcases the intimacy of the guitar.

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Speaker 2: I think that show that we spoke about previously, it

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Speaker 2: was a theatrical production that you know, the Spanish dancers, choreography, lighting, sound, everything.

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Speaker 2: This concert is it was just me. It's a solo

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Speaker 2: so it really just showcases the guitar and it's kind

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Speaker 2: of natural acoustic, intimate beauty and the whole range of

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Speaker 2: Spanish music, Spanish flavors, as you said, the concerts called

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Speaker 2: the Slavers of Spain, and it's my first time performing

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Speaker 2: for the Pringle Bay Proms, so I'm very much looking

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Speaker 2: forward to it, very excited to go down there and

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Speaker 2: connect with the community there.

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Speaker 1: And it's such a beautiful place to be in and

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Speaker 1: to make music and James. I'm tickled by a message

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Speaker 1: just in on our WhatsApp line from Don, who is

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Speaker 1: a former pupil of yours and tells me I was

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Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be tutored by James for a couple

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Speaker 1: of years. He is the most patient, kind and knowledgeable mentor.

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Speaker 1: But here's what I need to know more about. Don

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Speaker 1: says he won the Summer Award for the Best Produced

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Speaker 1: Album during COVID and has a marvelously entertaining anecdote about

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Speaker 1: the receiving of that statuette. I can't resist you now,

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Speaker 1: I have to share it with us please.

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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, As you remember, everything was online during that time,

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Speaker 2: and you know that the summers as you know that

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Speaker 2: that huge awards there and war was up in Sun City,

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Speaker 2: and so when I got the notification that I was nominated,

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Speaker 2: you know, I started planning my trip up to some

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Speaker 2: city because it was you know, it's going to be

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Speaker 2: a huge thing, and it's like, you know, the glitteratia there.

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Speaker 2: You know, everyone's there. And of course when we got

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Speaker 2: the news that it was that that event was it

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Speaker 2: was going to be online, you know, we all sort

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Speaker 2: of been an anti climax. Anyway, we tuned into the

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Speaker 2: online ceremony it was whatever it was June July, and

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Speaker 2: you know, I prepared a speech because I was going

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Speaker 2: to present my you know, present my speech in the

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Speaker 2: event that I won. I subsequently did, but there was

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Speaker 2: no time. There was the online ceremony. It was like

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Speaker 2: an hour and they just went through, you know, they

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Speaker 2: just listed the winners. But the sort of the cherry

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Speaker 2: on the cake was that, you know, the trophy, my

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Speaker 2: award was delivered to me by I don't know, by

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Speaker 2: the courier guy. And I when he when he came

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Speaker 2: around the next week to drop off the trophy, I

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Speaker 2: asked him if he wanted to hear my speech, you know,

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Speaker 2: because I prepared it. I never got a chance to

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Speaker 2: air it. But he was very dismissive. I think he

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Speaker 2: had quite a busy route, so he even he didn't

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Speaker 2: want to listen to my speech. So I didn't get

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Speaker 2: to actually just thank everyone.

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Speaker 1: The radio and wow, James, is there anyone you'd like

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Speaker 1: to knowledge?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a normal thank you to my agent, me,

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Speaker 2: my manager, me, my producer, me, my team. My wife

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Speaker 2: is actually the boss of everything. But anyway, either that's

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Speaker 2: how it goes.

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Speaker 1: I love it. Don thank you for prompting that. Appreciated

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Speaker 1: and the best wishes from your former people done. I mean, James, look,

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Speaker 1: it's just I mean, you've got us laughing all now,

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Speaker 1: but we're also really excited to hear more of the music,

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Speaker 1: and we are going to play one of your pieces

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Speaker 1: for our audience to give them a bit of a

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Speaker 1: taste of what to expect. The other thing to say, though,

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Speaker 1: is you've got several albums art as I've mentioned some

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Speaker 1: award for an album, which is one of numerous albums

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Speaker 1: that you've released. Spanish guitar specifically, is that forgive my ignorance.

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Speaker 1: Is that a particular kind of guitar or does that

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Speaker 1: refer to the style of the music? Is there such

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Speaker 1: a thing as a Spanish guitar or is it more

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Speaker 1: about the sound that's been created?

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Speaker 2: No, I mean, the guitar is a very received in

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Speaker 2: Spanish history, and the Spanish people think of Spain. As

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Speaker 2: guitar me, it was always the romantic. I'm a romantic

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Speaker 2: at heart. I'm sure many people are, and you know,

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Speaker 2: the whole thing with the guitar is that you can

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Speaker 2: just pick up and play Spanish guitar. It's not like

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Speaker 2: an electric guitar or a jazz guitar. I've played those

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Speaker 2: as well, but those kind of guitars rely on gear.

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Speaker 2: You need the applification, you need cables, you need effects, pedals,

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Speaker 2: that kind of thing. The classical guitar Spanish star you

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Speaker 2: literally just pick it up, you hold it to your

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Speaker 2: chest and you play and you can feel the liberations

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Speaker 2: of the guitar. The instruments speak to you and it

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Speaker 2: just kind of responds to how you play it. So

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Speaker 2: for me, it's a very kind of romantic sort of

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Speaker 2: connection that you know, I and many other classical guitarists

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Speaker 2: or Spanish guitarists have with the instrument. Is just that

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Speaker 2: intimacy and that immediate connection that one has with the instrument.

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Speaker 2: So and of course with that comes with that beautiful

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Speaker 2: Spanish music. I mean, I love the romantic side, the

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Speaker 2: indulge in expressive sounds that I guess you know, Spain

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Speaker 2: producers and people have this image of Spain and so

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Speaker 2: romantic kind of image of Spanish guitar Fromenco dancers and

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Speaker 2: that kind of passion, And I guess is the romanticism

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Speaker 2: that's inherent in that kind of music, you know, So

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Speaker 2: that's what drew me to that kind of music. So

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Speaker 2: I've mentioned you mentioned my albums. I've got this through

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Speaker 2: the Anderlusso, which was the the mentioned how we mentioned

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Speaker 2: the Sama winning album that was the latest Spanish one.

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Speaker 2: There are two others in that series. I've also recorded

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Speaker 2: a Latin album. I've recorded a whole range of albums,

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Speaker 2: but you know, the three Spanish all Spanish albums, I

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Speaker 2: think my are on my favorites because they really represent

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Speaker 2: that's that romantic, kind of indulgent expresses sound that I

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Speaker 2: love from the guitar.

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Speaker 1: I love listening to you talk about it with such

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Speaker 1: passion as well. James. Really great to have you on

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Speaker 1: the show today, and I'm looking forward to sharing a

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Speaker 1: short piece with our audience to wet their appetites for

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Speaker 1: the Pringle promised performance on the eleventh of April, and

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Speaker 1: I promise I'll give you details on how to book

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Speaker 1: and all of that after we've listened to the music.

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Speaker 1: But James, we hope it's a wonderful opportunity for you

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Speaker 1: to play in a new space and have a new

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Speaker 1: audience discover your work. Lovely to have you with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, I'm great the chat to you again. Look

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Speaker 2: forward to next time me too.

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Speaker 1: You keep well, James Grace. I'm still still picturing the

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Speaker 1: courier guy listening to the speech with great glee. So

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Speaker 1: we're going to give you a snippet of a short

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Speaker 1: piece called tre Piezza's Espaniola, and then after you've had

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Speaker 1: a listen, we'll we'll tell you hard book tickets so

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Speaker 1: that you can hear more. The name suggests that that's

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Speaker 1: part of a bigger hole. Tres pianos piazzas Espaniola's three

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Speaker 1: Spanish Pieces is what that translates into. That's one of

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Speaker 1: the movements from the work by Rodrigo, and that was

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Speaker 1: a performance recorded by James Grace, who is the award

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Speaker 1: winning guitarist you can hear at the Pringle Proms on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: the eleventh of April. Now a few things to point out. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: this is a music only event. I know some of

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Speaker 1: the previous iterations have been food focused as well. But

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Speaker 1: this is a musical performance happening in the church in

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Speaker 1: Pringle Bay. If I can just find the name of

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Speaker 1: the particular church to remind myself, I'm going to ask

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Speaker 1: my producer just to check that for me while I

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Speaker 1: confirm the ticket prices. Booking for this one is on

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Speaker 1: cicket and the cost is one hundred and fifty rand

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Speaker 1: if you book in advance, or two hundred rand to

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Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty rand if you book at the door.

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Speaker 1: The door in question is the Pringle Bay United Church,

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Speaker 1: thank you, That's the detail I was missing there, which

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Speaker 1: can accommodate up to one hundred and fifty people, so

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Speaker 1: there is space for plenty of people to make a

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Speaker 1: drive through to Pringle Bay. It is a lunchtime concert

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Speaker 1: starting at noon ending at one, and our suggestion is

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Speaker 1: stick around afterwards, go and grab a bite to eat

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Speaker 1: in one of the village restaurants or delis afterwards and

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Speaker 1: make a day of it. But the key thing to

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Speaker 1: know is that it is Saturday, the eleventh of April,

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Speaker 1: at the Pringle Bay United Church, starting promptly at twelve.

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Speaker 1: The doors will open from eleven thirty. If you want

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Speaker 1: to get there early and the concert from twelve until

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Speaker 1: one wonderful to catch up with guitarist James Grace. Please

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Speaker 1: book your tickets now on cicket